Digital stereo viewing of still and moving images has become commonplace, and equipment for viewing 3D (three-dimensional) movies is more widely available. Theatres are offering 3D movies based on viewing the movie with special glasses that ensure the viewing of different images for the left and right eye for each frame of the movie. The same approach has been brought to home use with 3D-capable players and television sets. In practice, the movie consists of two views to the same scene, one for the left eye and one for the right eye. These views have been created by capturing the movie with a special stereo camera that directly creates this content suitable for stereo viewing. When the views are presented to the two eyes, the human visual system creates a 3D view of the scene. This technology has the drawback that the viewing area (movie screen or television) only occupies part of the field of vision, and thus the experience of 3D view is limited.
For a more realistic experience, devices occupying a larger area of the total field of view have been created. There are available special stereo viewing goggles that are meant to be worn on the head so that they cover the eyes and display pictures for the left and right eye with a small screen and lens arrangement. Such technology has also the advantage that it can be used in a small space, and even while on the move, compared to fairly large TV sets commonly used for 3D viewing. For gaming purposes, there are games that are compatible with such stereo glasses, and are able to create the two images required for stereo viewing of the artificial game world, thus creating a 3D view of the internal model of the game scene. The different pictures are rendered in real time from the model, and therefore this approach requires computing power especially if the game's scene model is complex and very detailed and contains a lot of objects.
There is, therefore, a need for solutions that enable stereo viewing, that is, viewing of a 3D image.